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Chances of getting a PhD?

I'm having a tough time understanding how strong/weak a candidate I am for a PhD position.

I am a final year student studying biochemistry at the University of St Andrews. My grade average from last year is only slightly above the threshold for a 2.1 (messed up first semester). However, I do have a total of 8 months of experience working in various labs during my summer holidays.

If anyone could give me an indication of how likely I am to get a PhD coming straight out of Uni that would be great as it will influence my decision on whether or not to apply for a masters degree.

Apologies if this sort of thing has been posted a million times before.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

SL1235

I'm not in biochemistry and it might be different there, especially if you're in an area where there is industrial money, but in my field (CS) a 1st or an MSc distinction is the minimum prerequisite for funding under most circumstances. To lock it in you really want something more, like a decent publication from your UG or masters work (or from a summer job).

If you can self-fund, that is of course a completely different story, and I do hear that places with Doctoral Training Centres, especially recent ones, do find themselves with a lot of funded places to fill in a hurry, so might be more flexible.

Reply 2

alleycat393

The competition in the field is tough and most people doing PhDs already have a masters degree unless it's an MRes+PhD scheme. You may not struggle to get a place but may struggle to get funding. Having said that though, the lab experience helps and I went straight from undergrad to PhD and did biochem for my first degree + am a non-EU international so it's not impossible. I'd say apply for masters degrees, jobs and PhDs and see where you get to.